Heterogeneous Cost Patterns of Episodic Recurrent Vestibular Vertigo in the Medicare Population: A Case-Control Economic Evaluation

To evaluate Medicare costs and healthcare usage with total annual payments comprising hospital, outpatient and prescription costs, neuroimaging, and vestibular and audiometric testing for benign paroxysmal vertigo (BPPV), Ménière's Disease (MD), and Vestibular Migraine (VM).MethodsA case-control economic evaluation was conducted using 2018 MarketScan Medicare Database claims....

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Audiologists and vestibular specialists should be aware that episodic recurrent vestibular vertigo is associated with highly variable and potentially high Medicare costs, suggesting room for care pathway optimization — though this study does not prescribe a specific clinical change.

Quantifying the heterogeneous economic burden of episodic vestibular vertigo in Medicare highlights opportunities to improve diagnostic efficiency and reduce unnecessary healthcare utilization in this population.

1. 01Medicare patients with episodic recurrent vestibular vertigo show heterogeneous (widely varied) cost patterns.
2. 02Costs analyzed included hospital, outpatient, prescription, neuroimaging, and vestibular-specific expenditures.
3. 03Case-control design compared vertigo patients to matched Medicare controls.
4. 04Neuroimaging and hospital costs appear to be major cost drivers.
5. 05Findings support the case for streamlined vestibular care pathways to reduce unnecessary spending.

PMID

42808372

DOI

10.1177/01455613261493773.

Journal

Ear, Nose & Throat Journal

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

3

Population

Medicare beneficiaries with episodic recurrent vestibular vertigo vs. matched controls

Intervention

Episodic recurrent vestibular vertigo diagnosis (exposure)

Comparator

Medicare controls without vestibular vertigo